Peculiarities Revised Edition
by Little Acorns
Summary: The same as the old 'Peculiarities'. The story of Lainey, the Wicca from Sunnydale with a dysfunctional family and all the fuss and bother that comes from that. DMOC, SSWR, Spuffy, DSLJ Sorry about the first lines of the chapters! I can't fix it!
1. Beginning

Many people who began the New Year at Hogwarts had resigned themselves to a year of Same-Old-Same-Old

Many people who began the New Year at Hogwarts had resigned themselves to a year of Same-Old-Same-Old. And for many, this would be a reality, but for a select few, the arrival of a 17 year old from California would change their worlds forever. This shaker of foundations was named Lainey Deschanel, who, following the tragic death of her adopted father, had come to England to find her Birth Parents.

She had nothing but names to go on, but she was a smart girl, and in the end she had tracked town the town in which her natural mother had died.

It was while standing at the grave of said mother that an old man with a massive white beard had come over to her, from where he had been standing a few headstones back. The old man asked who she was and who she was here to visit. Lainey had introduced herself, and explained that this was the mother she had never met. The old man introduced himself as Albus Dumbledore, and then he added "I knew your mother when she was alive. And is this not your father?" gesturing to the grave beside them. Lainey shook her head. "No. That's not him. How did you know my mother?"

Albus smiled gently. "I was your mother professor at school. And later in life, I was proud to be her friend."

Lainey smiled back. "Oh. And did she ever mention having a daughter?"

Albus shook his head. "I'm sorry my dear, but she never mentioned any such thing to me."

Lainey nodded. "Its ok. Normally parents who have put their kid up for adoption don't really want people to know about them. Would you know my father, maybe?"

"What is his name, my dear?" Albus asked, tenting his fingers.

"Uh.." Lainey consulted a scrap of paper. "Severus Snape?"

Albus nearly fell over from the shock.

Lily Evans and Severus Snape?

Inconceivable!

"Oh yes, I know Severus very well. Would you like to meet him?" Albus was shocked still, but his meddling mind was whirring at the tearful reunion he hoped for when he introduced Severus to his daughter. At least there was no danger of taking the girl to Hogwarts, as she positively reeked of magic. Albus looked at Lainey, while giving her a moment to say goodbye to her mother. She had long black hair, dead straight and shiny, and pale skin. That seemed to be all she had inherited from Severus. The rest was all Lily. Right down to the large green eyes that Harry had been so often complimented. And Harry! He had a sister. This was going to be a delicate situation to explain.

A talk with Severus was going to be on order, so they could correctly ascertain the events leading up to, and including the adoption of Lainey.

Albus nearly chuckled at what Severus would say when he realized his daughter was called Lainey. Something along the lines of a conniption fit, he foresaw.

Albus held out his arm for Lainey to latch onto while they apparated. Lainey, however, had no idea of what apparating was, and thus let out an entirely undignified squeal at the awkward sensation that was apparating.

Oh man, had Albus been surprised to learn she'd never magic like that before.

He was interested however, when she said she'd done Wicca magic all her life.

Well, nearly all her life. See, her father had owned the magic shop in Sunnydale, until he'd been killed. She'd kind of grown up with magic all around her, and had met Spike, and the two had become friends, even though he'd been evil at first. But once he'd had that chip put in, the two of them had spent many a night hunting and killing demons. They were best friends. And then Dawn had joined in, and Lainey and Dawn became friends as well.

It was a secret, illegitimate Scooby gang of their very own. They killed the creatures of the night, all the while staying away from Buffy and her crew, 'cos Dawn would be killed, and Lainey would be subjected to all kinds of stupid questions. No fun for anyone involved.

The meeting with Severus had been interesting, too. Severus had been called to Albus' office, under the impression that they would discuss some plan of Voldemort's. He gave Lainey a strange look from where he stood, and gruffly consulted Albus about what had dragged him away from his potions.

"Albus?" Severus asked when Dumbledore tried to stifle a laugh. "Severus, please allow me to introduce Miss Lainey Deschanel. I met Miss Deschanel earlier today, and I think you'd be very interested as to who her parents are." Albus teased.

Severus rolled his eyes at the old man's antics, as he was want to do from time to time, but this time decided to humour the Headmaster, and said. "Very well. Who are her parents?"

"Wouldn't it be more polite to ask her that?" Albus suggested with an evil little twinkle in his eye. Severus sighed, but acquiesced.

He turned to Lainey, and looked at her properly. She looked vaguely familiar. Perhaps she was a Black? "Who are your parents?" he asked wearily, now eager to return to his potion.

Lainey looked at her long lost father, and saw so much of herself there. She'd often wondered where she got her looks from, and now she knew. She looked Severus squarely in the eye, and green met black, as she said "My mother was Lily Evans." She paused to see Severus' reaction to this news. He'd paled somewhat, and had to steady himself on Albus's desk. Severus suspected what came next. "And your father?" he steeled himself for the news.

"Um, you." Lainey stared up at Severus from her seat, looking hopelessly innocent and vulnerable.

Sev looked at her long and hard, trying to sort out his emotions when it came to this girl. Eventually, he had calmed somewhat, and sat, prepared for anything that would come next. This young American girl was his daughter, and nothing would change that. She was his and Lily's, and thereby his very own living memory of the woman he had loved since he was eight.

A lot of storytelling took place after that, with Sev explaining why she'd been adopted out, and Lainey explaining how she'd found him. But after that, the two had warmed up to each other. They got on quite well, and Severus had done the protective doting father thing. They spent the time before school started catching up, telling each other about their lives.

Severus had been wary when Lainey had told him that her best friend was a Vampire, but he'd said that Spike could come and visit, since she was going to be a student at Hogwarts now.

Yep, she was a schoolgirl again. Well, she was one anyway, but now she had a wand and everything. (Elm, Unicorn tail, 13 inches, springy.) Lainey didn't like using it though.

She felt wrong with it in her hands. Severus kept trying to get her to use it, telling her she'd get used to it, but to no avail. Magic didn't even work when she tried with it. Spells she'd been using since she was five completely failed her.

The big shock, however, had been that she had a brother. She didn't ask too much into that though, cos that was a whole big kettle of fish she didn't want at the moment. Better for her to get used to her new family before she went searching the world for some half brother.

She wrote letters to Dawn and Spike, explaining to them about everything, and had asked Spike to come stay with her soon.

Eventually though, the 1st of September came around, and Lainey was all dressed up in her new uniform, the dreaded wand tucked safely into her pocket.


	2. Start

Lainey stood behind a suit of armour near the entrance hall, and was rather nervous

Lainey stood behind a suit of armour near the entrance hall, and was rather nervous.

She was nervous about this feast, cos she was going to be sorted. Mainly she was nervous cos she knew Severus was head of Slytherin house, and she knew a bit about the houses, and she really didn't think Slytherin was her thing. Still, she had grown quite attached to her father over the few weeks she'd known him, and she didn't want to disappoint the man.

Students had finally begun to fill the hall, and Lainey went out to do some observing. Some were giving her weird looks, probably cos they didn't recognize her and all. Soon Albus was giving a quick speech about her being here, and how she was an American Wicca, who was doing exchange here, and how she'd never used a wand before. The hall was filled with excited buzzing soon after that, and it was time for Lainey to be sorted. The hat smelt of mothballs as it was placed on her head.

"Hmmm.." came the voice in her head. It was the hat that owned the voice. Come on, Lainey wasn't schizophrenic.

"Lily and Severus, eh? Interesting.. Potential is there.. Hmm.. Smart girl. Loyal too. But, no. I don't think Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Hmm… You are cunning, and I suppose with your father.. But your past shows me.."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The last bit was said out loud, and the table on her far right exploded into cheers. Lainey exhaled and began to walk over to the table.

She glanced at Severus as she walked past, desperate for some kind of approval, but he didn't seem upset. He gave her a small smile, and a nod.

Lainey sat across from three students who looked her age roughly. The girl had bushy hair, the redheaded boy looked surly, and the other guy.. he just looked bored.

Might as well introduce herself.

"Hi. I'm Lainey"

The bushy haired girl was the only one that responded.

"Hello. I'm Hermione Granger. This is Ron Weasley, and that's Harry Potter."

Potter. She'd heard that name recently. Oh well.

"So, how long have you been in England?" Hermione was asking.

"Oh, about three weeks. It's been great though. Just hanging out, you know. This place is seriously cool though. I never knew they had places that taught magic like this."

Now Hermione looked confused. "Didn't you go to school in America?"

Lainey nodded. "Well, yeah, but we didn't learn magic there. Just normal stuff. You know?"

Now Ron spoke up. "Then how did you learn magic?"

"I learnt at home. My dad owned a magic shop and stuff, so I taught myself." Lainey explained.

"You taught yourself magic?" Hermione looked shocked.

"Um.. kind of. But these wands are a bitch to get your head around, you know?" Lainey said, trying for conversation.

"Don't you use wands in Wiccan magic?" Ron asked.

Lainey shook her head. "Nah. See, with Wicca, the magic you use is borrowed. From the Earth. Your body acts as the wand, focusing the raw magic and refining it. With you guys I guess the magic comes from your blood. Kinda like Vamps."

Suddenly Ron and Hermione paled. "Vampires can use magic?"

"Well, I've seen Vamps use Wiccan spells. I dunno about your kind of magic. Maybe if they were Wizards before they were sired?" Lainey took a sip of her pumpkin juice and made a face.

Ron and Hermione were still freaking about the Vampire revelation, when Harry spoke up. "You spend a lot of time around Vampires then, do you?"

Lainey's smile disappeared and she just looked at Harry. Great, another Holier-than-Thou idiot who lived in a very black and white world.

"Yeah, I do actually. My best friend is a Vampire. Why do you ask?"

Harry tried to give her a look that was probably supposed to be threatening. "Nothing. I just thought that with you being in Gryffindor that you would have been, you know, a good person."

"Harry!" Hermione gasped.

"Listen, buster. I know Vampires that have more decency in one little finger than you. And who the hell are you to judge me? You don't even know me, you little shit." Lainey didn't usually flip like that to strangers, but his guy was just like a little male Buffy guy. And Buffy had gotten on her nerves. At least she had a sense of humour though, and a reason to be so judgemental about vamps. This guy was just a dork.

After that, however, Hermione and Ron didn't seem so keen to talk to her, so she ate the rest of her meal in silence, and then, when they were allowed to leave for the common room, she began to write a long and rant-y letter to Spike about stupid Harry Potter stupidhead.

She decided to walk to the Owlery to send the letter. Once she got there, she realized she wasn't alone. Hermione was in the room too, sending a letter using a school owl. Lainey muttered a soft "Hi", and Hermione spun around like a child caught with a hand in the cookie jar. "Oh! Lainey! Hello. I didn't see you there!"

"I figured." Lainey smiled, and called for her new pet owl Dracula to come down from his perch. The owl swooped down, and landed in a very dignified manner on the table in the middle of the room. Lainey looked up at Hermione. "Sorry, just sending a letter to Spike. I'll be gone soon."

Hermione smiled "No, its ok. I'll wait, and maybe we can walk back together?"

Lainey nodded. "Sure." She finished tying the letter to Dracula's leg, and the owl flew off into the night.

"So." Hermione said. "Who's Spike?"

"Spike? He's the vampire I was talking about over dinner. You know, the one I'm not a good person for being friends with?"

Hermione blushed. "I'm sorry about Harry. He's not usually like that. He's just had a rough time lately. But tell me, how does one become friends with a vampire?"

Lainey laughed, and spent the rest of the night talking with Hermione about her friendship with Spike, and the many times they'd ended up completely hammered because of their dysfunctional love lives (Mainly Lainey consoling Spike over Buffy's most recent treatment of him). So Hermione told Lainey about the adventures the Trio had experienced during their time at Hogwarts. So Lainey told Hermione about all the Slaying and apocalypse averting she'd done while in Sunnydale. The girls stayed up late into the night, swapping stories, and Lainey eventually went to bed, content with the knowledge she'd made a nice new friend.


	3. Class

The first class on Lainey's first day of school was charms

The first class on Lainey's first day of school was charms. However, Hermione, no matter how hard she tried, just couldn't help Lainey with the spell while using her wand. Professor Flitwick even gave up on her.

Eventually Lainey gave up on her wand, and with thoughts running through her mind that had themes of 'Screw It', she put down her wand and focused on the cushion they were supposed to be dancing with. A quick invocation, and a cantrip later, the

pcushion was cha -cha -ing around the room. Professor Flitwick looked up at the cushion as it went past him, and he began to praise her, until he actually looked at her. Then he freaked, to some extent. "Miss Deschanel! There will be no Wicca in my classroom! Do you hear me? I will not tolerate it!" and with a flick of his wand, the cushion stopped rumba-ing, was wrenched out of Lainey's control, and flew across the room, landing on someone's feet. Professor Flitwick was still ranting. "Professor Snape will hear about this! You mark my words! You will be punished for this!" and then the short man stomped out of the room. Lainey prayed no one would wonder why Flitwick was going to Severus for her punishment instead of McGonagall, being her head of House. Lainey ducked her head and went to retrieve her cushion form where it had landed. The owner of the feet on which the cushion had landed had picket it up, and placed to on the desk in front of him.

Lainey finally got a good look at the person, and she damn near gasped. Hello there. The guy was basically a 17-year-old non-Punk non-Vampire version of Spike. His hair was clearly not dyed, however, and it shone brightly. The hair was longer than Spike's too, and it kept falling in front of the guy's eyes. The eyes themselves were lighter than Spike's. Greyer too. More silver then blue. His nose was straight, and slightly upturned at the end, lending him a more aristocratic look than what Spike ever had. Lainey was half way to being in love. He noticed her staring, and raised an eyebrow at her. She smiled brightly at the amazingly hot guy. Sure, he was a Slytherin, but that was just a house, right?

"Hi. I'm Lainey. Sorry about the..." she gestured at the cushion on the desk.

"Draco Malfoy. What have you done to get Potter so mad at you?" he asked with a smirk. Lainey looked over at Potter, who was currently glaring at both Lainey and Draco, as if trying to work out who he hated more.

Lainey half smirked back. "I defended a friend, and he didn't like that. He's so touchy."

Draco's smirk grew wider. "Its nice to see a Gryffindor that doesn't moon over the Boy-Who-Lived."

Lainey looked confused. "The boy who what? Lived? What?"

Draco grinned in amusement now. "Don't tell me you don't know about Potter and the Dark Lord?"

Lainey shook her head. "Sorry. American, remember? Plus, I'm not actually from your world. Well, I am, but I didn't grow up here. And I babbling, aren't I?"

Draco just nodded, looking very amused.

Then Hermione came up to her. "Lainey? Professor Flitwick wants to talk to you in the hall." Hermione was blushing, as a tall dark boy stood at Draco's side.

"Granger." The boy said, with an unusual look on his face. Hermione blushed even harder.

"Zabini." Hermione said in acknowledgement, before she rushed away, head down. Draco was silently laughing, and he patted the Zabini guy on the shoulder. Lainey heard a cough come from the door, and she turned to see Flitwick glaring at her, and Severus leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed and a very amused look on his face. Lainey sighed, and took one last glance at Draco, who was looking at Severus with a confused expression, before she went over to be duly reprimanded.

Severus just sighed. "Lainey, why can't you just use your wand?"

Lainey squirmed under her father's stare. "I hate that thing Sev. Its wrong. It's too impersonal."

"Every witch and wizard in the world feel connected to their wands. Why is it only you who doesn't?" Severus asked somewhat tiredly.

Lainey crossed her arms defensively. "Maybe cos I'm the only one that grew up using magic so that you could feel it flowing through your veins, Sev. My magic was always a friend. When I use this.. I feel numb. Wands make your magic separate to you. I can't do that. Its not normal."

Severus just looked at her for a bit before relenting. "Fine. I'll talk to Albus for you then. Now, how is Gryffindor treating you?"

Lainey grinned. "Its really good. But you aren't disappointed I'm not in Slytherin?"

Severus shook his head. "No. Your mother was a Gryffindor, and you're just like her. I knew you wouldn't be in Slytherin from the first moment I met you."

"Oh. Really?" Lainey smiled.

"Really." Severus smiled in response. "Now, I have a class to get back to. God knows what they've done to my classroom."

Lainey smiled, and gave Sev a quick hug before he was off. Lainey went back into the classroom, and put her wand back in her bag. Flitwick refused to acknowledge her after that, so Lainey decided to bother Hermione.

"So, what's up with you and that Zabini guy?"

Hermione blushed. "I don't know what you mean."

Lainey rolled her eyes. "Sure. And that's why you blush like a crazy person every time you're near him, or someone mentions him?"

Hermione suddenly found her feet very interesting. "He's a Slytherin. I'm A Gryffindor."

Lainey wanted to shake Hermione. "So? Doesn't mean you two can't be together. A rose by any other name, right?"

Hermione looked at Lainey now, looking very upset. "It was his idea to keep it quiet. He doesn't want people to know we're together. He said he loves me though."

Lainey nodded in understanding. "You know what happened in Romeo and Juliet, right? Deny thy father and refuse thy name."

Hermione looked shocked. "What? Stop being a Gryffindor?"

'No, stupid. Look past houses. The damn things cause way too much trouble, in my opinion. Get him to see there is more than being a good Slytherin." Lainey said.

"Blaise would never do that for me. He's so proud to be a Slytherin." Hermione was nearly crying now.

"He said he loves you. And love makes you do the wacky." Lainey grinned, in an attempt to cheer Hermione up.

It did, but Hermione was confused. "What are you talking about?"

Lainey explained. "Love. Makes you do the Wacky? Love makes you do crazy unexpected things. See? He may surprise you. Did you tell him you want to be a proper couple?"

Hermione shook her head. "No. He just came up with it one day. Only a few people know. Draco and Pansy really." And with that Hermione gathered up her things and rushed to the next class, leaving Lainey behind.

Lainey was about to get up and follow her when she felt a large hand grip her arm. It was Blaise, and he looked very concerned.

"Is Hermione ok?" he asked.

Lainey shook her head. "No. She's really upset. You should talk to her about it."

Blaise looked into her eyes, trying to work out whether or not she was tricking him, and then he dropped his books on the desk and rushed off in the direction Hermione had gone, leaving a bemused Draco and Lainey in his wake. Draco picked up his friends hastily abandoned texts, and looked at Lainey.

"So, you've been let in on the drama of Blaise and Hermione?"

Lainey laughed. "Oh man, that's nothing compared to the issues where I came from."

Draco smiled with raised eyebrows. "I don't envy you."

"You know you do." Lainey smirked at him.

Draco shook his head, still smiling. "So, why'd Flitwick get Snape instead of McGonagall?" he asked.

Lainey paled a tad. What did she say? Tell him the truth? Could she trust him? Hermione did, to some extent. What the hell? Go for it.

"He's my father." She said, watching him for a reaction.

The guy was shocked, to say the least. His eyes went wide, and he stopped dead in the hall. "Are you serious?"

Lainey nodded. "Yeah. You can't tell anyone, ok? You have to promise. You're the first one I've told in the school. Other than Sev, obviously."

Draco nodded. "Your secret's safe with me. But how come I've never met you until now, if you're his daughter? And why are you American?"

Lainey quickly explained that she'd been adopted out as a child, but she didn't go into details, cos they were both very late for class.


End file.
